SAN JUAN, Abra – The grant of autonomous status to the Cordillera will help the region move out from long time isolation and will open the floodgates for optimum development that would uplift the overall economic status and living condition of the people, Mayor Marco Bautista said here recently.
Bautista, who is now on his third term as local chief executive, said autonomy will be the region’s vehicle for economic growth that will also contribute in uplifting the living condition of the people because the powers of the national government that impede the fast paced development will be devolved to the regional autonomous government which will be put in place to oversee the overall development of the region.
“Autonomy for the Cordillera has been long overdue. We cannot understand why the national government continues to be lukewarm on our renewed pursuit for regional autonomy when in fact, it is envisioned as a major tool for robust economic growth,” Mayor Bautista stressed.
While it is true that the realization of the establishment of an autonomous region during the Aquino administration is unlikely, the three-term local chief executive cited the need to sustain the aggressive information and education campaign in order to inculcate into the minds of the electorate the true meaning of autonomy and to help in negating their fears once the region will become autonomous so that they will be ready to favour autonomy once the next administration will support the cause for self-governance.
He assured that once given a chance to be the representative of Abra to the House of Representatives after the May 2016 synchronized and automated national and local elections, the establishment of an autonomous region in the Cordillera will be one of his priority legislations and that he will work hard for its approval in order for the region to be accorded the autonomous status that was granted by the 1987 Constitution.
Mayor Bautista underscored the important benefits of an autonomous region ranging from powers to determine the development thrust of the region, greater control of the region’s rich natural resources, prioritize programs and projects that are not the priority of the national government in the region, bigger share of the government’s resources purposely for the implementation of priority projects, the preservation of a permanent identity of the region among others.
Bautista was a former city prosecutor of Pasig City and general manager of the Abra Electric Cooperative (ABRECO) prior to his entering politics in 2007 and he is also a lawyer and a civil engineer by profession.
Mayor Bautista expressed his all-out support to the renewed pursuit for regional autonomy by the Regional Development Council (RDC) in the Cordillera since it is already time for the region to gain the autonomous status provided for in the Constitution in order for the Cordillera to keep in step with the development of other regions and address the injustices committed by the national government for its failure to prioritize the overall growth and development of the region by being the least priority in list of programs and projects.
By Dexter A. See
